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She stretches her arms out as if to grab the sun, all the while encouraging us to keep our spines fluid and our brains heavy.

“Feel the tapestry of your lungs,“ says Brigitte Bourdeau, a New York yoga instructor, as she leans over our twisted bodies and coaxes them further into positions we never thought possible.

With the Hudson River as backdrop and The James Hotel rooftop as our studio, we are experiencing New York City in a way that redefines the word rejuvenation.

While hustle and bustle often describe this biggest and busiest of American cities, native New Yorkers have carved out spaces all their own within touristy Manhattan. For travellers are seeking something that will leave them replenished after a trip to the Big Apple, take a hint from the average New Yorker.

It all started for us with a glass of “eye-opener juice” created out of beet, orange, ginger and carrot juice. With this early morning pleasant jolt to the taste buds, we chose Kitchen Benedict from the David Burke Kitchen breakfast menu — Italian sausage, polenta, spinach and tomato hollandaise — a healthy twist on a heavy classic.

A 17th-floor session of yoga in the trendy hotel, was an intoxicating elixir that soothed souls and readied bodies for a holiday of jogging, biking, site-seeing and countless smoothies and fresh juices.

The rooftop yoga session was provided by Serene Social, a wellness and networking community for women that focuses on living holistic and balanced lives. With New York-based yoga and meditation sessions, events, conferences and retreats on their agenda, the $150 one-time fee delivers a unique set of activities aimed at wellness.

One of our favourite places to go in New York is Battery Park, a place rarely mentioned in the travel brochures. Its 10-kilometre running route traces the Hudson River and provides glimpses of the Statue of Liberty, the World Trade Center memorial and the Nelson A. Rockefeller Park. With many riverside green spaces and children’s play parks, this is a rejuvenating place to go and experience what average New Yorkers do at the end of their day.

“Go to Central Park,” every New Yorker urged when we asked about rejuvenating things to do in the city. With a full day to explore, we started by lacing up runners and followed the main route through the park. The jogging path is marked and we were eager to run along a portion of the New York Marathon route. But as the jogging lane become busier, we wander off the beaten paths, along which, we’d find a local New Yorker taking photos or painting a picture or playing jazz on their saxophone or sitting high atop a rock with a book in hand. We also took time to stop and enjoy the ducks floating in ponds, the breathtaking fall foliage and the comforting click-clack of hoofs as horses pulled tourists through the park.

We decided to forgo a carriage ride, deeming it too touristy and tacky. But after Day 5, many New Yorkers told us the horses are one of their favourite things about Central Park. So we succumbed and climbed onto the velvet covered carriage seat to take in the splendour that is the most visited park in the United States. We learned that the 340-hectare park — it sits on a rock bed that protrudes out at will — is decorated with 24,000 trees, all of which were planted.

New Yorkers’ favourite spots include the hidden carousel, which few tourists see unless they venture to the southern part of the park, just off Center Drive. Other private spots we discovered were the Arthur Ross Pinetum and Conservatory Garden. Though biking brings you to all the park’s corners, walking and running are by far the best ways to experience all the nooks and crannies since bikes aren’t allowed on many pathways.

With Central Park being the “pièce de résistance” of any rejuvenating trip to New York City, we chose to stay at the nearby Affinia Gardens Hotel for part of our trip. Just four blocks from Central Park, this quaint hotel provided free bikes plus ice water and tea to quench parched throats when we returned from the park.

Shopping is a ritual in New York, and if you do it in a well-thought-out way, it too can be rejuvenating. We started off the evening event with a trip to Macy’s makeup counter. A free makeover with two New York gals left us ready to conquer the rest of the six-floor store — and provided us plenty of touring advice for the rest of our six-day excursion. While the streets of New York are teeming with stores, retailers and sidewalk sellers, we found the quiet setting of this flagship store to be the perfect place to unwind, grab a Starbucks refresher and spend four hours in absolute bliss.

Our final restful experience came aboard a Circle Line Sightseeing Cruises boat, which took us on a harbour tour of the night lights of New York. It was a blissful two hours of witnessing classic landmarks like the Statue of Liberty aglow in the light from the setting sun and the Brooklyn Bridge lit up in full splendour.

If we choose to return to New York to rejuvenate again, yoga on the rooftop will be at the top of our list, as will Central Park and Battery Park, whether by foot, bicycle or hoof.

IF YOU GO:

Where to stay: The James (jameshotels.com/new-york) provides a super relaxing lobby area that features David Burke Kitchen pastries and cookies throughout the day, as well as wine and cheese nightly from 6 to 8 p.m. The glassed lobby overlooks the city and offers books, computers and free Wi-Fi.

Where to eat: The David Burke Kitchen (davidburkekitchen.com) is an experience you won’t want to miss, especially some of its TV-featured dishes like pretzel-wrapped crab cakes and peanut butter-bacon dates. The Carnegie deli is a New York classic that provides the right mix of sinful food and waiter comedy (carnegiedeli.com).

Attractions: For just over $100, the New York CityPASS (citypass.com/NewYorkCity) is a great way to access the harbour tour, as well as six other attractions like the Museum of Modern Art and Central Park’s Metropolitan Museum. The pass also allows you to skip the sometimes long lineups.

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